The Golden Hammer of Self-Defense

I once overheard a great craftsman say that “when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything in sight starts looking like a nail.” Of course, he was referring to the Law of the Instrument, aka the Golden Hammer. Having a golden hammer sounds great, but in fact it can be a real problem (unless you happen to be a Marvel character from Asgard). Essentially, it means you have a tool that’s being overused and often for the wrong job.

Golden hammers exist in all facets of life and across every industry. At best, they can be a minor annoyance. At worst, they can take thousands of lives. They can certainly kill your career or land you in prison.

Think of that annoying uncle who repeatedly tells the same tired old joke, or the self-proclaimed ladies’ man who’s always using the same pickup line. How are their social lives? In sports, golden hammers can be a stark weakness. Think of a basketball player or a boxer who’s too reliant on their right hand, or a baseball pitcher who can only throw the fastball. In a competitive environment, they quickly become exposed as one trick ponies. In fields such as medicine, golden hammers can have grave implications, as in the case of the modern day opioid crisis.

Self-defense and martial arts are no exceptions. In fact, violence itself can be a golden hammer, as it is often the only tool that students develop to deal with potential threats. Early recognition, avoidance, escape, and de-escalation are far more valuable skills, but practitioners and schools alike often ignore them altogether. Unfortunately, the consequences can be quite severe. Many a practitioner has found themself in prison after using what they believed to be justifiable violence in self-defense only to have a judge or jury determine that escape or de-escalation would have been much more appropriate. The level of violence used is also important, as “over defending” has led to many criminal prosecutions. It’s probably bankrupted a fair number of otherwise stable households to boot.

It’s easy to see, then, that when facing violence, it’s always best to run when you can, de-escalate when you can’t, and fight only as a last resort. If you use violence in a situation that could have been avoided, even in justifiable self-defense, it can drastically alter the rest of your life. Extremely expensive legal battles, jail time, police investigations, injuries, and psychological trauma can persist for years - and that’s if you “win” the physical fight. It can be much worse if you lose. If you’re an expert martial artist, your advanced skill level can be used against you in a court of law. As such, you might be held to a completely different legal standard than the average person in your community.

Even if you’re attacked, and even if you’re one hundred percent justified in physically defending yourself, the aftermath of violence can be so complex (even in so-called “open/shut” cases) that one could easily argue that learning to successfully navigate it can be tougher than earning a brown belt (at least at some schools, anyway). One could also easily argue that no training is complete without significant legal study, and that practitioners have a moral obligation to learn the law, particularly as it pertains to self-defense. Likewise, one could easily make the case that schools have an obligation to teach it or they’re doing their students and their communities a great disservice. Unfortunately, local penal codes aren’t nearly as sexy as roundhouse kicks, so many schools simply don’t bother. That’s where supplemental online training (dare we say) ‘kicks’ in (eye roll). In his fantastic course, Avoiding, Escaping, and Surviving Violence, former Green Beret Sniper Matt Tardio provides excellent tools for not just recognizing the early signs of violence before it begins (like dangerous body language), but also de-escalating it once it does. Those tools are worth many times more than the price of the course, as they can not only save your life, but also save you hundreds of thousands of dollars and keep you out of prison. He doesn’t stop there. He includes stress inoculation techniques, verbal self-defense, improvised weapons strategies, awareness exercises, and easy to learn strategies for safely navigating the complex aftermath of violence (which smart practitioners plan for well before they ever need it). He even includes physical techniques for those instances when you might have no choice but to fight. The best part is you can start applying the lessons immediately, so you and your family can feel more confident today. Every self-defense student must take his course, as it will help you develop the most important self-defense tool known to humanity - the one between your ears.